Ronaldoa��s appeal against ban rejected

Cristiano Ronaldoa��s final route of appeal against his five-match ban for pushing a referee after being sent off in the Spanish Super Cup was rejected by Spaina��s administrative sports court (TAD) on Tuesday.

a�?TAD has rejected the appeal presented by Real Madrid against the five-match ban,a�? a TAD spokesperson confirmed to AFP.

Ronaldo blasted his treatment by the Spanish football federation as a�?persecutiona�? after he was controversially shown a second yellow card for diving after coming off the bench to score as Real won the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup 3-1.

The Portugal captain was handed a one-match ban for the 10th red card of his career and a further four-game suspension for pushing referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea in protest.

a�?Impossible to be immune to this situation, 5 games!a�? Ronaldo posted to his 108 million followers on Instagram after his first appeal was dismissed by the federation last week.

a�?It seems to me exaggerated and ridiculous, this is called persecution!a�?

Ronaldo has already served two games of his suspension as Madrid completed a 5-1 aggregate win over Barcelona in the Super Cup second leg and as Real opened their La Liga campaign with a 3-0 win at Deportivo la Coruna.

Real will also be without their all-time top scorer for La Liga matches at home to Valencia and Levante and away at Real Sociedad. . .